Since the mid-1700s, foreign policy has been a topic of discussion for all political leaders. George Washington and his cabinet needed to respond effectively to requests from countries around the world. The French Revolution challenged America's supreme power as Washington had to decide where the United States' loyalties would lie. Post-revolutionary foreign policy decisions were now made on the basis of moralistic or realistic values. During the policy-making period, Washington gave his Farewell Address, the Jay Treaty was enacted, the XYZ Affair and Quasi-War with France began, and the Treaty of Ghent was signed. John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Henry Clay were three key components in deciding how to govern despite their opposition. Alarmed by the radicalism of the French Revolution, Hamilton became convinced that American security and its economic system required friendship with Great Britain, clearly indifferent to the consequences for France. (Herring, George C.). The decision to remain neutral also more than impressed public opinion. The French were not happy with the decision as was Jefferson. Both the French and the English began seizing American ships crossing the Atlantic, taking cargo and impressing sailors. These actions and seizures violated the Neutrality Proclamation by forcing Washington and Chief Justice John Jay to define new ways in which Americans say Congress accepted a war they were not ready to fight. Federalists also feared that the war would throw the nation into the arms of Napoleon. “The initial protests against the war, particularly in New England, often expressed more fear of a French alliance than of the war itself” (Hoey, John B). Federalists continued to oppose the war because they considered it an "offensive" war aimed at Canada. Although willing to support a war to protect American commerce or defend the nation's frontiers, they refused to authorize the conquest of Canada due to English forces stationed so close to their country.